MANSEHRA: A team of the National Accountability Bureau has arrived here to verify the moveable and immovable properties of former MNA Mohammad Safdar Awan ahead of his appearance before the bureau in Peshawar on Oct 8 over an asset inquiry.

The revenue department’s officials, who accompanied the NAB team, told reporters on Monday that verification of the assets of Mr Safar, a son-in-law of former prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, in Hazara division was under way.

They said the NAB team had obtained the records of Mr Safdar’s eight kanals mansion, which was under construction in the posh Ghazikot Township, from the Mansehra Development Authority.

The officials said the team also visited the former lawmaker’s ancestral village in Khawari area and the schemes executed in parts of his constituency, NA-14.

Obtains record of Safdar Awan’s under-construction mansion

The NAB regional office in Peshawar confirmed that Mr Safdar was summoned by the authority to appear before it on Oct 8 to face an inquiry over complaints that his assets are beyond his known income.

MNA Mohammad Sajjad Awan, the elder brother of Mr Safdar, told reporters that his party had called a meeting today (Tuesday) to decide the future line of action over NAB summons for his younger brother.

He said the PML-N leadership had been subjected to victimisation since the PTI formed government two years ago.

Mr Awan claimed that his brother Safdar Awan wasn’t involved in corruption.

BAN SOUGHT: Speakers at a women-only seminar here on Monday demanded of the government to ban social media obscenity and punish rapists to check the growing rape incidence.

“Minor girls are raped in our society but the culprits mostly got off scot-free due to flaws in judicial system. The rapists should be dealt with strictly under Islamic laws,” former Jamaat-i-Islami MPA Aftab Shabbir told the seminar.

The event was organised by the Jamaat-i-Islami’s women winghere, where doctors, lawyers, educationists and women from other walks of life showed up. Most speakers demanded public hanging of rapists.

Ms Maria, a speaker, said many children and women were sexually assaulted before being and only the enforcement of Islamic laws would help eliminate such crimes.

She also urged women not to follow the western culture blindly.

Dr Parveen Saif, another speaker, said the government should ban obscene material on social media.

Published in Dawn, October 6th, 2020